(42.4) Xǔ Cí 許慈 [Réndǔ 仁篤]

Xǔ Cí, appellation Réndǔ, was a Nányáng man. He studied under Liú Xī, was well learned in Zhèng [Xuán’s works], and researched the Yì [Book of Changes], the Shàngshū [Book of Documents], the three Lǐ, the Máo[edition] Shī, and the Lúnyǔ [Analects]. During Jiàn’ān [196-220] he followed Xǔ Jìng and the others from Jiāozhōu into Shǔ.

許慈字仁篤，南陽人也。師事劉熙，善鄭氏學，治易、尚書、三禮、毛詩、論語。建安中，與許靖等俱自交州入蜀。

At the time there was also Hú Qián, appellation Gōngxīng, of Wèi-jùn, who was unknown and so came to the land of Yì [province]. Though Qián’s education was not extensive, he was very intelligent with powerful memory. The ceremonies of the Ancestral Systems and the numbers of all Mourning Rites, he could draw on the ground with his finger and when he lifted his hand it would be easily understood.

時又有魏郡胡潛，字公興，不知其所以在益土。潛雖學不沾洽，然卓犖彊識，祖宗制度之儀，喪紀五服之數，皆指掌畫地，舉手可采。

When Xiān-zhǔ [Liú Bèi] settled Shǔ [214], there had been disturbance and bloodshed for a long time, scholarship had declined, so he gathered classics and records and sifted out many scholars. [Xǔ] Cí and [Hú] Qián became Academic Scholars, and with Mèng Guāng and Lái Mǐn and others were in charge of managing the old literature.

先主定蜀，承喪亂歷紀，學業衰廢，乃鳩合典籍，沙汰眾學，慈、潛並為學士，與孟光、來敏等典掌舊文。

It happened that many affairs became confused and actions led to many misunderstandings, so Cí and Qián quarreled with one another, and slandered and insulted each other, so that they shouted and their faces became colored. When each had gaps in their works, they did not help each other, and at times they even came to blows, so that they each sought to overawe the other, boasting while belittling the other, so things had come to this.

值庶事草創，動多疑議，慈、潛更相克伐，謗讟忿爭，形於聲色；書籍有無，不相通借，時尋楚撻，以相震攇。[攇，虛晚反。] 其矜己妒彼，乃至於此。

Xiān-zhǔ thought it a pity it had become like this, called a great meeting, and sent performers to act as the two masters and imitate the appearance of the quarrel. They drank and played music, and made merry. In the beginning they each used reason to manage difficulties, but in the end used blade and staff and fought one another. After this [performance, Cí and Qián] were moved and ended it [their quarrel].

先主愍其若斯，群僚大會，使倡家假為二子之容。傚其訟䦧之狀，酒酣樂作，以為嬉戲，初以辭義相難，終以刀杖相屈，用感切之。

Qián died first. In the reign of Hòu-zhǔ [Liú Shàn], Cí eventually reached Chief Ever Autumn [head of Empress’s household], then died. (1) His son Xūn inherited his work, and also became a Academician Scholar.

潛先沒，慈後主世稍遷至大長秋，卒。〔一〕子勛傳其業，復為博士。

Sūn Shèng states: Shǔ had few scholars, so Cí and Qián and the rest all had their stories recorded.